Critique my riding

[big mario]

Some of us tend to lead with our ginormous craniums, and by going with a 6 degree gas pedal said cranium is pushed back just a little bit. Since going to a gas pedal set up i tend to head auger a lot less

Edited February 6, 2019 by big mario

[pow4ever]

3 hours ago, Beckmann AG said:

"What letter is favored above all by pirates"?

"R"

@alpinegirl  Nice analysis!

[AcousticBoarder]

32 minutes ago, pow4ever said:

"R"

@alpinegirl  Nice analysis!

It is the "C" that a pirate truly loves! 

[Beckmann AG]

"You might think so, but they're awfully fond of the 'C'. "

"Why don't we see more hippos hiding in trees?"

 

 

Czeus,

You're perceptive, and have some good things going on.

The toeside turn is respectably loose and stacked, other than right at the very beginning (leading with the head and shoulders).

The toeside turn is more solid than the heelside, and you also have the means of sustaining that arc longer than the heelside.

The obvious glitch on the toeside is a byproduct of what's going on to the heelside.

The heelside ends early, in part due to weight distribution, in part due to your putting yourself in a corner with the straight leg/ all hip mode of tilting the board to that edge.

Straight leg provides very little means of tilting the board, which leaves you with hip/sitting.

(A rider's rear leg is typically more flexed than the front, but not that much).

Thus peg leg.

Also note that the pirate is only on one leg, and has an atypically wide stance. 

Front heel weight bias and torso rotation is often a byproduct of a stance that is too wide. Which simply means the rider cannot weight both feet easily at turn initiation. Weight defaults to the front foot, the board hooks around too quickly (essentially turning underneath the torso), and the turn ends prematurely.

In your case, having limited dorsiflexion, you will not be able to ride a fashionably wide stance, and will need to look to less conventional means of stance configuration, to ensure that you can bear weight in the right places when needed.

So, you might want to sneak the rear foot forward slightly, and see how that goes. Meanwhile add just a touch of forward lean to the front boot so as to avoid looking like a tipsy pirate.

Might also want to raise the rear heel in increments. Just take it one variable at a time, so as to keep track of cause and effect.

Either way, you're in striking range of something better and more consistent.

Beyond that, if you want to type out what you see in your clip (what you actually see, not the interpretation of what you see) , I'll then tell you what I see, and what I think it means.

 

 

 

[daveo]

55 minutes ago, Beckmann AG said:

Beyond that, if you want to type out what you see in your clip (what you actually see, not the interpretation of what you see) , I'll then tell you what I see, and what I think it means.

I personally just see a dude trying to carve. Never had the critical eye (obviously lol). 

[Colozeus]

1 hour ago, Beckmann AG said:

"You might think so, but they're awfully fond of the 'C'. "

"Why don't we see more hippos hiding in trees?"

 

 

Czeus,

You're perceptive, and have some good things going on.

The toeside turn is respectably loose and stacked, other than right at the very beginning (leading with the head and shoulders).

The toeside turn is more solid than the heelside, and you also have the means of sustaining that arc longer than the heelside.

The obvious glitch on the toeside is a byproduct of what's going on to the heelside.

The heelside ends early, in part due to weight distribution, in part due to your putting yourself in a corner with the straight leg/ all hip mode of tilting the board to that edge.

Straight leg provides very little means of tilting the board, which leaves you with hip/sitting.

(A rider's rear leg is typically more flexed than the front, but not that much).

Thus peg leg.

Also note that the pirate is only on one leg, and has an atypically wide stance. 

Front heel weight bias and torso rotation is often a byproduct of a stance that is too wide. Which simply means the rider cannot weight both feet easily at turn initiation. Weight defaults to the front foot, the board hooks around too quickly (essentially turning underneath the torso), and the turn ends prematurely.

In your case, having limited dorsiflexion, you will not be able to ride a fashionably wide stance, and will need to look to less conventional means of stance configuration, to ensure that you can bear weight in the right places when needed.

So, you might want to sneak the rear foot forward slightly, and see how that goes. Meanwhile add just a touch of forward lean to the front boot so as to avoid looking like a tipsy pirate.

Might also want to raise the rear heel in increments. Just take it one variable at a time, so as to keep track of cause and effect.

Either way, you're in striking range of something better and more consistent.

Beyond that, if you want to type out what you see in your clip (what you actually see, not the interpretation of what you see) , I'll then tell you what I see, and what I think it means.

 

 

 

Thanks for the insight. 

So this is what i see:

- More body compression on toe-side vs heelside

- On a few of the turns, I can see that, maybe, heel side hooks around very fast at the beginning of the turn.

- Right leg does look almost straight on some heelside turns, more bent on others.

- Slow transitions from heel to toe.

- As far as I can tell, leaving clean trenches in the ground.

 

My analysis:

I think the reason i get so straight legged on heal-side is that i'm trying to actively pressure the center of the board by pressing down on my right heel. I think i got this from reading some things about gilmour bias (which i do have, but only very slightly.) This appears to inadvertent leg straightening. My boot lean must also be playing a role. I do have my front boot more upright and straight vs rear. 

[Colozeus]

I think this style of carving shows what a compressed heel side "should" look like or perhaps the opposite end of a heel side pirate carve. 

 

[alpinegirl]

11 hours ago, Beckmann AG said:

"What letter is favored above all by pirates"?

Thank you for expanding on your thoughts. The statement is more so rooted in recognizing your experience. The insights that you offer pertaining to stance (from the toes right on up) and how the various interfaces work concurrently or create discord are invaluable. 

And you poked my inner ☠.

[Beckmann AG]

31 minutes ago, alpinegirl said:

Thank you for expanding on your thoughts. The statement is more so rooted in recognizing your experience. The insights that you offer pertaining to stance (from the toes right on up) and how the various interfaces work concurrently or create discord are invaluable. 

And you poked my inner ☠.

You're welcome, thanks, and will add 'pirate poker' to the resumé.

 Any guess on the hippos?

 

6 hours ago, Colozeus said:

Slow transitions from heel to toe.

It’s not so much that your heelside/toeside transition is slow; it’s that your toeside/heelside is abrupt.

 

How you manipulate a board at slow speed will indicate what will take place at higher speed, so the first few seconds of film should be sufficient. 

Time notations are approximate.

@ .05, you anchor , rotate torso, then release. This suggests you aren’t comfortable rolling off edge with lower extremities, and foreshadows use of midsection to establish board tilt on heelside.

@ .06, you’re mostly over the front foot, and beginning to rotate torso to exit that traverse. (ideally, you’d be close to the center of the board, so as to release the turn off the tail, meanwhile reducing edge angle.)

@7, board is flat, but shoulders are leading into the turn. ideally, you’d be closer to upright, neutral, and centered as the board goes flat. As a real-time waypoint, try to make sure you have a small moment in time when you're standing directly atop the board, with the board flat to the snow. Then proceed from there.

@ 9, you’re lined up and ready to go. However, time has passed while you were getting stacked, meanwhile you’ve traveled some distance and added momentum to the system. Not too much of an issue in this context, but a liability when it gets steeper and you move faster.

Left hand snow strike around 9.5 suggests you moved too much mass too quickly into the turn. Most likely head and shoulders leading, given that there’s not much rebound available yet. Rapid rebound being the other cause of hand slap.

nice arc until 11.

@ 11, COM rises. This is not an actual issue for the terrain you're on, and the general theme, but this will affect how long it takes for the board to begin turning once you roll it up to the heelside. (what goes up stays up until it comes down, meanwhile, board won’t bend). Not an issue if you want the turn to start after the fall line, otherwise...

 If you soften your knees and ankles slightly at the same time, you'll be able to load the board sooner as it rolls to edge.

Shortly after, you over-rotate clockwise, straighten your right leg, and sit to the heelside. If that leg was somewhat flexed, you could conceivably generate some board tilt by rolling that knee into the turn, and without the 'sit' move.

Similarly, over rotation without some compensation toward the rear foot heel will leave you parked to the front foot.

By 12, the board has moved out from under you (yoyo going down), and you’re about as kinked up as you’ll get. When the board comes back(yoyo climbing up), increasing pressure, you’re not very well stacked up to deal with the increasing load. 

Right hand strike suggests you tilted too fast, or the board rebounded too quickly from the previous turn, as mentioned before.

Around 13, the board is turning underneath your torso. With your weight to the front end, and no means of adding tilt, you've no means of sustain, and the turn ends.

Almost looks like a slight absorption move at turn exit. That will come in handy at some point.

And then a respectable toeside entry, less top heavy than the previous, possibly on account of added momentum smoothing the transition.

--

Regarding the dorsiflexion/stance width thing:

Stand relaxed on the board in the empty shells on your footbeds (no liners) and see how even the contact is on the soles of both feet, then move around a little and see what it takes to disrupt that contact. If everything feels ok except for the rear foot heel, stack a few business cards underneath and see if that changes anything toward 'more solid, more of the time'.  

Then install your feet to the liners and and shells, and see if the plastic is getting in the way.

I suspect that if you increase external heel lift, you'll be way over flexed on the rear knee.

 

 

[Colozeus]

47 minutes ago, Beckmann AG said:

You're welcome, thanks, and will add 'pirate poker' to the resumé.

 Any guess on the hippos?

 

It’s not so much that your heelside/toeside transition is slow; it’s that your toeside/heelside is abrupt.

 

How you manipulate a board at slow speed will indicate what will take place at higher speed, so the first few seconds of film should be sufficient. 

Time notations are approximate.

@ .05, you anchor , rotate torso, then release. This suggests you aren’t comfortable rolling off edge with lower extremities, and foreshadows use of midsection to establish board tilt on heelside.

@ .06, you’re mostly over the front foot, and beginning to rotate torso to exit that traverse. (ideally, you’d be close to the center of the board, so as to release the turn off the tail, meanwhile reducing edge angle.)

@7, board is flat, but shoulders are leading into the turn. ideally, you’d be closer to upright, neutral, and centered as the board goes flat. As a real-time waypoint, try to make sure you have a small moment in time when you're standing directly atop the board, with the board flat to the snow. Then proceed from there.

@ 9, you’re lined up and ready to go. However, time has passed while you were getting stacked, meanwhile you’ve traveled some distance and added momentum to the system. Not too much of an issue in this context, but a liability when it gets steeper and you move faster.

Left hand snow strike around 9.5 suggests you moved too much mass too quickly into the turn. Most likely head and shoulders leading, given that there’s not much rebound available yet. Rapid rebound being the other cause of hand slap.

nice arc until 11.

@ 11, COM rises. This is not an actual issue for the terrain you're on, and the general theme, but this will affect how long it takes for the board to begin turning once you roll it up to the heelside. (what goes up stays up until it comes down, meanwhile, board won’t bend). Not an issue if you want the turn to start after the fall line, otherwise...

 If you soften your knees and ankles slightly at the same time, you'll be able to load the board sooner as it rolls to edge.

Shortly after, you over-rotate clockwise, straighten your right leg, and sit to the heelside. If that leg was somewhat flexed, you could conceivably generate some board tilt by rolling that knee into the turn, and without the 'sit' move.

Similarly, over rotation without some compensation toward the rear foot heel will leave you parked to the front foot.

By 12, the board has moved out from under you (yoyo going down), and you’re about as kinked up as you’ll get. When the board comes back(yoyo climbing up), increasing pressure, you’re not very well stacked up to deal with the increasing load. 

Right hand strike suggests you tilted too fast, or the board rebounded too quickly from the previous turn, as mentioned before.

Around 13, the board is turning underneath your torso. With your weight to the front end, and no means of adding tilt, you've no means of sustain, and the turn ends.

Almost looks like a slight absorption move at turn exit. That will come in handy at some point.

And then a respectable toeside entry, less top heavy than the previous, possibly on account of added momentum smoothing the transition.

--

Regarding the dorsiflexion/stance width thing:

Stand relaxed on the board in the empty shells on your footbeds (no liners) and see how even the contact is on the soles of both feet, then move around a little and see what it takes to disrupt that contact. If everything feels ok except for the rear foot heel, stack a few business cards underneath and see if that changes anything toward 'more solid, more of the time'.  

Then install your feet to the liners and and shells, and see if the plastic is getting in the way.

I suspect that if you increase external heel lift, you'll be way over flexed on the rear knee.

 

 

oh wow, it will take me some time to digest this while i look at my video. I'll respond later tonight or tomorrow AM. This is pure gold, and the exact type of analysis that i'm looking for! Thanks!

[Colozeus]

@Beckmann AG I reviewed the video in slow motion while applying your commentary. This is great insight. It also reminds of something that happens to me a lot on heelsides. A lot of times throughout my riding, i'm not sure on what exactly is happening, but i end up slamming my hips and hands into the ground before the carve is fully established. And it's not a reaching for the ground first kind of slap, it's more of a angulating the board way too fast and falling down to the ground in a sitting position and then recovering the carve from all the lost speed and getting way in front of the board. Does that make sense?

Also, i was examining my boots yesterday, and i remembered that in an effort to bring my front boot to a more upright position with less forward lean, i sinched down the spring on the dgss mechanism. This has resulted in a lot less forward and aft movement being available on that boot vs the rear. I'm not sure this is actually a factor since some folks ride without any spring mechanisms on their boots. Like you mentioned, it sounds like it's more of an issue not having enough forward lean which can aid the pirate leg. 

I will try out the empty shell footbed test today. 

[Colozeus]

Ok, this is interesting. This might be part of my problem. Below are pictures i took of my feet inside the shell with only the footbeds and locked into my board with equal weight on front and back foot. (or at least what feels like equal weighting)

Front boot: my front leg is up against the back of the cuff.

Rear boot: my back leg is pulled in towards the center and up against the right/front of cuff

I think this might explain why i have the propensity to weigh the front of my board? This at least explains why it sometimes feels like i have to fight my back foot a little to get centered on the board. And i can only imagine that this results in my foot shifting towards the outer part of the shell, even if slightly, to help compensate. I really don't have any room at all to move around in the liner. It is tight all around. 

Perhaps i need to play with inwards canting? Should the goal here be for my "pegs" to be centered inside of the shell when doing this exercise? @Beckmann AG

 

[BlueB]

Try a bit narrower stance with existing settings? 

[lonbordin]

Do you lock your UPZ cuffs in a forward positon when riding?  Are they locked in the photos?

[Gabe T]

44 minutes ago, Colozeus said:

Front boot: my front leg is up against the back of the cuff.

Rear boot: my back leg is pulled in towards the center and up against the right/front of cuff

Was this while you were standing with an athletic stance?   It was hard to tell from the pictures how much your knees were bent.   Kind of looked a bit straight from that angle.

How does it feel with your liners in?  Do you feel any strain in your quads?

 

 

[Colozeus]

21 minutes ago, lonbordin said:

Do you lock your UPZ cuffs in a forward positon when riding?  Are they locked in the photos?

No, i have an aftermarket spring system. No lock. It's the DGSS system by @DRUPI

6 minutes ago, Gabe T said:

Was this while you were standing with an athletic stance?   It was hard to tell from the pictures how much your knees were bent.   Kind of looked a bit straight from that angle.

How does it feel with your liners in?  Do you feel any strain in your quads?

 

 

 

This is the same stance i would be using while just going straight on the flats. Knees are bent but back knee is a lot more bent than front. Pretty much the same stance you see me in at the beginning of the video. 

I'll try carpet carving with my liners and report back. I don't generally feel quad burn, but i have noticed, at least on my first day of the season, that i was getting a bit of quad burn on the straights after a run and that i would have to force myself to redistribute my weight more towards the rear to eliminate it. 

I use to have quad burn back when i was 3 toe 3 heel lift. Now i'm 6 toe and 3 heel. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Colozeus

[Colozeus]

Just tried with my liners. It feels the same way. In fact there is a little bit of a gap on my back foot between my calf and the liner towards the outside edge. Seems like my biomechanics are fighting the boot. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Colozeus

[lonbordin]

1 hour ago, Colozeus said:

It's the DGSS system by @DRUPI

I've never used that system... can the Cuff be moved to a more forward position by adjusting the DGSS system.

[Colozeus]

15 minutes ago, lonbordin said:

I've never used that system... can the Cuff be moved to a more forward position by adjusting the DGSS system.

kind of, but you sacrifice spring stiffness. in theory i could go get my own custom size springs to set the lean however i want. It is definitely not as adjustable as the stock systems on UPZ or deeluxe. 

[noschoolrider]

22 minutes ago, Colozeus said:

kind of, but you sacrifice spring stiffness. in theory i could go get my own custom size springs to set the lean however i want. It is definitely not as adjustable as the stock systems on UPZ or deeluxe. 

You can order softer (or harder) forward flex springs for UPZ boots:
http://upzboots.com/shop/upz-forward-flex-rcr-soft-springs/
http://upzboots.com/shop/upz-forward-flex-race-springs/

[Colozeus]

2 minutes ago, noschoolrider said:

You can order softer (or harder) forward flex springs for UPZ boots:
http://upzboots.com/shop/upz-forward-flex-rcr-soft-springs/
http://upzboots.com/shop/upz-forward-flex-race-springs/

I'm not using the stock system. This is an aftermarket system. the DGSS. But, i didn't know these were available. thanks!

[noschoolrider]

1 minute ago, Colozeus said:

I'm not using the stock system. This is an aftermarket system. the DGSS. But, i didn't know these were available. thanks!

I read that you were using the DGSS system, however you might want to consider going back to the UPZ system with softer springs installed.

[Colozeus]

1 minute ago, noschoolrider said:

I read that you were using the DGSS system, however you might want to consider going back to the UPZ system with softer springs installed.

i might try that if i can find the parts.

[Corey]

Hmm, neat.  I haven't done the 'no liners' test in a while.  I should...  

Johan, feedback aside - you are looking real strong in that video!  Nice progression! 

[Colozeus]

20 minutes ago, Corey said:

Hmm, neat.  I haven't done the 'no liners' test in a while.  I should...  

Johan, feedback aside - you are looking real strong in that video!  Nice progression! 

Thanks! One day I'll ride as good as you!